A Cabinet minister has made a false claim about lockdown rules in a bid to defend Boris Johnson's chief aide, Dominic Cummings.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claimed the government had "never told people where they have to specifically locate themselves" during an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr.
This is untrue.
Government guidance issued on March 22 - less than a week before Mr Cummings travelled 260 miles to Durham with his wife, who had coronavirus symptoms, and their child - specifically ordered the public to stay in their "primary residence".
The guidance was issued to ensure rural and regional communities did not see their health services overloaded with visitors bringing infections from big cities.
In April, it was reported that the North East of England was a hotspot for coronavirus infections, with hospital admissions rising by 35% between April 1 and 2.
The government guidance read: "Essential travel does not include visits to second homes, camp sites, caravan parks or similar, whether for isolation purposes or holidays.
“People should remain in their primary residence. Not taking these steps puts additional pressure on communities and services that are already at risk.”
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Mr Shapps contradicted this in his interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr show this morning.
He said: "Everyone's been making huge sacrifices, I'm desperate to see my parents who I haven't seen for months, like many people watching this.
"The key thing is not to continue moving around, but we've never told people where they have to specifically locate themselves."
Host Andrew Marr told Mr Shapps his government had ordered people to stay in their primary residence.
Mr Shapps said: "In this case he went to his family's home and stayed in an adjacent residence."
He added: "The guidance also states you should do the things which are practical to provide assistance particularly where children are involved, and this was the practical solution for them."
This is also untrue.
The guidance states: "Keep following this advice to the best of your ability, however, we are aware that not all these measures will be possible."
But last night, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries clarified that these rules should only be bent if there was "extreme risk to life”.
On March 18, Boris Johnson said: "I also need to remind parents that, as we have already advised, children should not be left with older grandparents, or older relatives, who may be particularly vulnerable or fall into some vulnerable groups and I know that will be difficult too.”
